In the more than six decades they have shared New York, the relationship between the Yankees and Mets has been mostly polite -- strangely polite -- with the notable exception of that jagged bat barrel Roger Clemens bounced across the path of Mike Piazza in the 2000 World Series. When the Yankees were great, the Mets were in down cycles, and when the Yankees were in competitive lulls, the Mets soared.
While they have shared stars -- Yogi Berra, Darryl Strawberry, Doc Gooden, David Cone -- they've never been in a bare-knuckled, whose-wallet-is-bigger bidding war for the same free agent. Oh sure, they both had interest in Mike Mussina when the Hall of Fame right-hander was available, but Mussina was inclined to pitch for the Yankees. There was the Carlos Beltran saga in the winter of 2004-05, when Beltran eventually took the Mets' offer because he couldn't entice the Yankees to be all-in. When Aaron Judge became a free agent last year, the Mets stood down, never seriously engaging Judge, not even to drive up the price for the Yankees.
But that was then and this is now: Each team is in full pursuit of the same player -- Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the 25-year-old right-hander from Bizen, Japan, who fuels dreams of change for each organization. The Mets' Steve Cohen, the richest owner in baseball, is squaring off against Hal Steinbrenner, who oversees the most valued franchise in the sport, and the second-most valued sports team in the world according to Forbes.